S. So, you think of a US brand like Dockers, yet more than half of its business was international. That was really important for us because it had such a good platform,” he shared at the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Big Show Asia Pacific in Singapore on Wednesday. “Around the globe, specifically in Latin America and certain parts of Europe, [the Dockers brand] was incredibly strong. But there is the opportunity: can we expand this brand globally? And the answer is yes because it has a global footprint.” Authentic, which now boasts a retail systemwide sales volume of $32 billion and operates in 150 countries, is less about hemlines and high fashion and more about margins, global licensing leverage and algorithmic efficiency.  “We don’t buy brands that are broken,” Salter said. “We buy business models that are broken. It’s a big difference. If people don’t like Reebok and it’s going down, we’re not going to buy it.” But Reebok remains a hugely popular brand with a huge legacy.  Operational gospel  Authentic’s success hinges on a core insight that many legacy companies missed: In today’s economy, brand equity functions like an asset class. Rather than designing clothes or operating stores, Authentic acquires well-known brands and licenses them out across product categories and regions. In effect, it acts less like a traditional fashion house and more like a brand operating system. Its portfolio includes over 80 brands, from Reebok and Eddie Bauer to Ted Baker and Hunter. These names come with deep cultural capital that Authentic monetises through high-margin licensing deals and strategic partnerships. “We buy establishments because building brand recognition takes decades. That’s why our portfolio consists of brands with 10, 20, 30, or 40 years of history,” Salter said.  A case in point: Authentic’s $1.2 billion acquisition of Champion last year. The sportswear brand generates nearly $3 billion in annual global sales and is active in more than 90 countries. But Salter believes that’s just the beginning. “I will be back on stage here in five years, and [Champion] will be doing much more. And, when I say much more, I mean closer to $10 billion,” he said. “It’s not that difficult because it’s one of the greatest brands in the world, and it’s not hard to love Champion. They invented the hoodie. Think about that, Nike’s first hoodie was a Champion. Nike never made its own. The first hoodie ever made for Nike was a Champion. That’s kind of crazy, but it’s the truth.” According to Salter, licensed products can yield retail margins of up to 65 per cent – significantly higher than the 40 to 50 per cent margins typical of traditional wholesale brands like Nike or Adidas. For retail partners operating on tight margins of 10 to 15 per cent, that difference is game-changing. Entertainment as a flywheel, tech at the core “People don’t come up to me at a party and ask how Nautica’s doing,” Salter joked. “They want to hear about David Beckham.” Beckham is a shareholder in Authentic, which co-owns and manages his global brand.  Authentic’s focus extends beyond products into the realm of entertainment and culture. With more than 700 million social media followers and 700 billion PR impressions monthly, the company aims not just to sell merchandise but to remain top-of-mind and top-of-feed. “People don’t watch TV anymore. Everything is about streaming,” Salt said, adding that about 20 per cent of the business is on the entertainment side.   “But that 20 per cent actually fuels the other 80 per cent of our business.” Meanwhile, with just 540 employees managing billions in revenue, Authentic is as much a tech company as it is a brand house. Artificial intelligence is embedded into workflows across the organisation – contract drafting, analytics, marketing optimisation.  According to the executive, the company hasn’t hired a new lawyer in over a year and 95 per cent of contracts are now drafted by AI. “We tell people: Don’t worry about your job. Worry about getting smarter and faster,” Salter said. “Think global, act global” With more than 40 per cent of sales already outside the US and a push towards a 50-50 global revenue split, Authentic’s future is clearly international. “Part of our strategy for Authentic is growing our international business while thinking about each of the regions very differently as well,” Wesley Chu, president at Authentic Brands Group Asia Pacific, said.  That means using deep local partnerships to penetrate markets that major Western brands have historically misunderstood. In Asia, Chu points to major partners like Thailand’s Central Group, Indonesia’s MAP and SM in the Philippines as key players helping Authentic brands succeed with cultural nuance. “Asia is still the best direct-to-consumer market,” Chu said, adding that consumers are hyperconnected. They know what’s going on in the US often more than US consumers know about Asia. “We push our partners to really focus on growth opportunities [in each market],” Chu said. “You come to Southeast Asia. It’s 10 countries, 10 currencies, 10 cultures. We need to have more boots on the ground and we have to be very strategic about that. But how do we tell our brand story in the local language?” To support this localisation, Authentic is investing further on local resources. Chu said the company is opening its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Shanghai, hiring local legal, PR teams and supporting partners to tailor brand stories to their markets. Further reading: NRF’25 Asia: Why local action, global ambitions shape the future of retail.